RSNA: CodeRyte presents coding solution for radiologists

CodeRyte presented its Web-based software which automates coding process for radiologists, CodeAssist, at the Radiological Society of North America annual conference in Chicago earlier this month.

The Bethesda, MD.-based company builds outbound interfaces from its client’s system which produce radiology reports and build a workflow around a client’s needs.

MeChelle Walker, manager of coding solutions, said “[the client] can tailor the workflow to them. They may have multiple locations and want to split things out that way--they may choose to just bundle those all together.”

After the workflow has been established, CodeRyte’s application runs the reports through a natural language processing engine, which looks for evidence to assign CPT codes, modifiers and other codes sets that are required.

“A process normally for coding might be very manual, where people read the report, look through a book and assign codes,” Walker explained. By automating the technology, CodeAssist allows the radiologist to act as an editor of code, rather than an author, which can improve productivity by two-three times, said Walker.

CodeAssist works by viewing the entire context of the language in the report, as there are frequently a great deal of negated conditions listed, she said.

“[Radiologists] have to be careful, because if they don’t pick up the negated--‘not seen, not found, not present,’-- they are going to end up with codes and give patients conditions they don’t have,” explained Walker.

Once the system assigns a code to a study, the radiologists can view it to see if they agree, approve it, and move on to the next report quickly, said Walker.

CodeAssist also comes equipped with a control panel, which allows system administrators to visualize the users whether they are in the same office, or in the next state, said Walker.

“When you have a technology that allows the flexibility of having employees work [remotely], you really need to be able to monitor those employees. We really created a lot of thought around not just managing the process but managing the people within the process,” she concluded.